Thomas Kyd as an English Seneca with reference to The Spanish Tragedy

Why is Thomas Kyd called English Seneca?

Or

Senecan Elements in The Spanish tragedy

Lucius Aenius Seneca was a Roman dramatist. He was born in 4BC-65AD. He was the greatest playwright in Roman literature. He wrote 90 dramas in Latin language. Thomas Kyd is the blind followers of the Roman literature especially the Roman Seneca. Thomas Kyd is very much influenced by Senecan drama. That’s why he is called the English Seneca.

            At that time Nero was a notorious Emperor of Rome. Seneca was the home tutor of Nero. For this reason Seneca could observe the nature of his mother. She was a vicious woman. This incident influences Seneca to write drama. His drama is full of blood shed, murder and revenge. That’s why Senecan dramas are not suitable for stage. They are suitable for reading in a chamber or on a closet. For this reason they are called chamber drama or closet drama. Now we are going to discuss about the drama The Spanish Tragedy as a Senecan drama.

There are some important elements of Senecan drama. Which are found in The Spanish Tragedy. They are-

           

Revenge drama: In The Spanish Tragedy we find the major theme is revenge theme. Because we find all the characters are motivated by taking revenge. It is the supreme element of Senecan drama.

           

Revenge is taken as holy assignment: In Senecan plays all the characters think that if they take revenge upon the killers who have murdered their dearest persons it can never be a sin. Rather it is a sacred duty. The very same tendency we observe in the characters of Bellimperia and Hieronimo. We see Bellimperia says-

“But how can love find harbor in my breast. Till I revenge the death of my beloved.”

                       

Highly passionate characters: At the very beginning of the play we find Bellimperia is so emotional to Andrea. After Andrea’s death she shows her emotion to Horatio who is Andrea’s friend. Moreover Balthazar falls in secret love with Bellimperia at the first sight.

 Ghost or Supernatural machinery: At the opening scene of the play we meet two characters. One is Andrea’s ghost and another is Revenge. It is also a supernatural machinery that is the elements of Senecan drama.

            Blood shed or bloody atmosphere: The brutal killing of Andrea and Horatio, the stabbing scene of Isabella, Bellimperia and Hieronimo, the killing of Lorenzo and Balthazar, the biting of Hieronimo’s tongue himself all these elements create a bloody atmosphere.

           

Madness or insanity or lunacy: In this play we find the impact of madness. By losing his son Horatio, Hieronimo turned into mad. By the same grief his wife Isabella has gone mad.

           

Tendency to suicide: Actually this play is full of a tendency to suicide. This tendency is prevalent in the characters of Bellimperia, Isabella and Hieronimo. They suicide by stabbing themselves.

           

            Reference to Hell: Description of underworld is one of the major elements of Senecan drama. Thomas Kyd has also used the reference to Hell in this play. Here we get Pluto the king of underworld, Proserpine the queen of Pluto. We also get Charon the ill tempered boatman of the river of underworld Acheron.

           

A beautiful heroine: Like Senecan drama, in The Spanish Tragedy the heroine is very beautiful but she is very lustful and unchaste. We got Bellimperia saying to Horatio-

“Sitting safe, to sing in Cupid’s choir, that sweetest bliss in crown of love’s desire.”

           

            Loose plot construction: Plot is defective in this play. We see in this play that Hieronimo is delaying to take revenge of his son’s murder. Bellimperia is also delaying to take revenge of her lover’s death.

            Loose characterization: A hero must have an active role throughout the play but we do not find even a single hero. Before the play starts Andrea was murdered. Horatio too was murdered soon. On the other hand Bellimperia had more than one lover. So she is not an ideal heroine.

            Conspiracy or intrigues: This play is full of conspiracy. Here Lorenzo and Balthazar intrigue with Horatio and Villuppo intrigues with Alexandro. Lorenzo says to Balthazar-

“Do you but follow me and gain your love. Her favour must be won by his remove.”

           

            Melodramatic elements: Melodramatic elements such as declamatory speech, excessive passion, musically acted, cured appeal to poetic justice all of such qualities are used by Kyd in his play.

                       

Aggregation of dead bodies: At the end of the drama we find the stage is littered with some dead bodies. At the same time we find the dead bodies of Bellimperia, Lorenzo, Balthazar, Hieronimo and the Duke of Castile.

            At the end of the discussion, it is clear that Thomas Kyd has successfully used every Senecan element in his play The Spanish Tragedy. He is the pioneer of English Senecan tradition. So he has rightly been called The English Seneca.